Jo Begin · About me

Creating, sharing and helping people find their voice

I’m Jo Begin. I create songs, books and images with a conviction that connects all my projects: everyone should be able to learn, express themselves, make their own choices and stand up for their rights.

I began singing in a choir at eight. At fifteen, I entered a poetry competition. Folk dance, theatre, and solo and group performances followed. I wrote, composed and performed songs, and co-founded a music festival.

Photorealistic creation of a small children’s choir in a church, with the conductor on the right — A photorealistic creation evoking my early years in a choir.

Jo as a teenager in a green folk-dance costume — Folk dance was part of my teenage years. Restored photograph.

I found other ways to tell stories while working behind the camera in community television, then in graphic design and printing. More recently, I took part in a theatre production with bilingual narration.

Jo holding a microphone at Festival En Plein Soleil — On stage at Festival En Plein Soleil. Restored photograph.

Jo on stage in a theatre production with bilingual narration — Bilingual narration on stage, 2023. Optimized photograph.

Along the way, I became involved in community projects and the defence of rights. I want people to have more ways to act for themselves, be heard and participate in decisions that affect their lives.

Life sometimes takes us down paths that are not our own. I set aside much of my creative work for years. After surgery, I returned to it and rediscovered what had moved me since childhood.

Jo operating a television camera — Another way to tell stories: behind the camera. Optimized photograph.

Today I create songs as a writer and composer and support them as a music publisher. I write and publish books, including language-learning books. I also restore historical photographs through detailed research into the people, places and times they depict, alongside the possibilities of digital tools. I create animations and illustrated jokes as well.

These pursuits share one impulse: to create, to pass things on and to help each person find a voice and a place. This site will follow the projects that grow from that impulse.